Broncbuster men ride Howze; women get blown out at home
Men
Garden City, KS-If there was one lesson that the Broncbusters learned after their 41-point loss to Hutchinson on Saturday it was this: good defense cures all evil.
Whatever bad taste was leftover 72 hours later, Garden City rid with one of their best defensive performances of the season.
Ben Howze recorded his fifth double-double of the year with 21 points and 11 boards, the Broncbusters forced 18 turnovers and held Cloud County to their third worst shooting performance of the season in an 87-86 win Wednesday night at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
“This was a good win,” Head Coach Brady Trenkle said afterwards. “That team was 4-0 on the road coming in, and we knew it would be a challenge. Our guys responded.”
And it looked like the game would be a runaway midway through the second half.
Garden City (9-3, 5-3) built a 65-50 advantage following Victor Dukes layup with 8:08 to go. But the Thunderbirds, who had won four straight games entering Wednesday night’s showdown, chiseled their way back into the contest.
Aamahne Santos scored 19 of his game-best 24 points in the second half, including a sensational driving layup with 22 seconds left that capped a 35-17 run and pulled Cloud County to within three 85-82.
“Cloud is a good team, so we weren’t surprised that they made a run,” Trenkle said.
The Thunderbirds had a chance to tie the game after James McNeal missed two free throws. But Deon Lyle misfired on back-to-back 3-pointers. After the ball was knocked out by Garden City, Lavar Harewood was fouled on the inbounds pass. The sophomore transfer from the University of Maine, missed the first free throw. With no timeouts and four seconds to play, conventional wisdom would have told him to miss the second one. Instead he splashed it home, and McNeal canned two freebies on the other end, rendering Santos’s 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer meaningless.
“I thought our defense was much better tonight,” Trenkle said. “It’s hard to explain what happened to us on Saturday at Hutch. But one thing I know is that we didn’t defend. That wasn’t a problem tonight.”
That defense stymied a Thunderbird squad who, at 10-1, was off to their best start since 2006. Cloud County missed on five of their first six shots from the floor to begin the game. That enabled Garden City to jump out to a 15-6 edge midway through the opening period.
As they did in the second half, Cloud County roared back thanks to Harewood, who scored the Thunderbirds final eight points of the first half to cut the Broncbuster lead to 35-32. But Dukes was fouled with one second on the clock, and drained both free throws for a 37-32 halftime advantage.
“My guys were in the locker room saying to each other: if we listen to the coaches and follow their lead, this is what happens,” Trenkle explained. “They’re hungry.”
Naradain James scored 21 points for Garden City, which included two big jumpers in the final three minutes that helped seal the deal. Ray’s circus layup with 30 seconds to go put the Broncbusters up 85-80 and finished off an 11-point night where he shot 5-of-8 from the field.
Harewood netted 11 points for the Thunderbirds off the bench. Andrew Ballock and Jordan McNelly each added 10.
Notes: Garden City won the game despite Josh Fleming going 1-for-9 from the field…The Broncbusters were just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc; tying a season low (1-of-6 vs. Cowley)
Next up: Garden City at Pratt-Saturday, December 10-4 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and mobile app: KWKR
Women
Garden City, KS-Saturday night’s 31-point loss to Hutchinson was the third 30-point defeat of the Nick Salazar era.
Three days later, unimaginably, it got even worse; if that was even possible.
Erin Alexander poured in a career-high 28 points on 13-of-19 shooting to lead four Thunderbirds in double figures as Cloud County used a 33-point fourth quarter to bury Garden City 92-56 Wednesday night at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
“We weren’t efficient at all,” Broncbuster Coach Nick Salazar said. “You don’t have to be a stat nerd to figure that one out.”
Garden City (5-6, 3-5) posted their second worst shooting performance of the season, going 19-of-61 (31 percent). They were just 10-of-33 in the first half before finishing 9-of-28 over the final 20 minutes. The Broncbusters missed eight of their first 10 shots to begin the third quarter.
“We missed a lot of makeable shots tonight,” Salazar. “When we go back and look at the film, it’s not like these girls are missing shots they can’t hit.”
Cloud County (9-2, 6-2) led for all but 3:30. Alexander sparked the offense early, hitting her first seven shots and scoring 15 points in the first quarter to stake the Thunderbirds to a 22-13 advantage. That lead swelled to as many as 14 four different times in the second period.
“Cloud County is a very good team,” Salazar said. “And they hit shots tonight.”
That, compounded with the fact that the Broncbusters had three stretches where they went three or more minutes without scoring any points, and it’s easy to see why the final result was as lopsided as it was.
But the nail in the coffin was the final period, where Cloud County drilled six 3-pointers and connected on 12-of-19 (63 percent) from the floor. Brockelman canned four treys over that final stretch.
“We are very talented,” Salazar said. “But it takes more than that. Everybody has to be on the same page, and until that happens, these results will continue to happen.”
Monica Barefield scored 15 for Garden City, who lost for the fifth time in their last seven games. Jessica Carillo added 12 points, while DeRae Lewis tallied seven and nine boards.
Chelcie Kizart scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half for Cloud County, who beat the Broncbusters for the third straight time. Simone Walker added 11.
Notes: Cloud County has won their last three games vs. Garden City by an average of 27 points…Cloud County won their fifth straight game…Despite the loss, Garden City turned the ball over only 14 times; their second lowest amount this season (11 vs. Indy was lowest)
Next up: Garden City at Pratt-Saturday, December 10-1:45 p.m. pregame; 2 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and mobile app: KWKR
